Commentary: Senseless killing puts emphasis on community

Nov. 29, 2008

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James Living Jr., 28, of Lafayette was described recently by teachers and relatives as a light-hearted young man, a character, with a drive to make his life better. He had served four years in the Army and re-entered civilian life with a series of jobs that, he came to realize, weren't what he wanted.

Living kept his job at the Burger King on Jefferson Boulevard at Evangeline Thruway, but he also enrolled at Remington College last spring.

"He was tired of the normalcy of working dead-end jobs and not getting ahead," Remington admissions official Brent Malveaux said in a story by The Advertiser's Shay Randle. "He just wanted change, and that's what impressed me about him."

Living made the dean's list. But Nov. 19, he was shot to death at Burger King through a drive-up window in what police say was an argument over access to the dining room.

A suspect, Edward Zeno, has been arrested as a principal in the case.

We've tried a variety of ways to reduce crime, from warm and fuzzy to throw away the key. And here we are. Whatever the solution turns out to be on the macro level, if there is one, we should re-emphasize community-oriented policing.

In the broadest sense of the term, community-oriented policing puts cops and citizens together to eliminate the opportunities on which criminals depend. If our late-night culture puts convenience store and fast-food employees at risk, find a way to protect them - maybe the kind of windows drive-up banks use, in which bullet-proof glass protects the tellers. Low police pay is a chronic problem. Is there an opportunity for off-duty officers to work part-time as parking lot security?

Do we need more lighting in strategic locations? Neighborhood residents can identify abandoned houses that have become crack houses. Maybe we can use the Internet to put shoppers together in car pools so they're less vulnerable.

Some of these things are being done now. Some might be dumb ideas. But between the police and the public, there are good ideas out there. And we need them.